Using the definition of an asset from FASB Concepts Statement No. 6, indicate whether each of the following should be listed as an asset by Ingalls Company.
(a) Ingalls has legal title to a coal mine in a remote location. Historically, the mine has yielded more than $25 million in coal. Engineering estimates suggest that no additional coal is economically extractable from the mine.
(b) Ingalls employs a team of five geologists who are widely recognized as worldwide leaders in their field.
(c) Several years ago, Ingalls purchased a large meteor crater on the advice of a geologist who had developed a theory claiming that vast deposits of iron ore lay underneath the crater. The crater has no other economic use. No ore has been found, and the geologist’s theory is not generally accepted.
(d) Ingalls claims ownership of a large piece of real estate in a foreign country. The real estate has a current market value of over $225 million. The country expropriated the land 35 years ago, and no representative of Ingalls has been allowed on the property since.
(e) Ingalls is currently negotiating the purchase of an oil field with proven oil reserves totaling 5 billion barrels.